Maternal Fish Consumption, Hair Mercury, and Infant Cognition in a U.S. Cohort

Details

• Personal Author:
  Amarasiriwardena CJ ; Bellinger D ; Gillman MW ; Hu H ; Kleinman KP ; Oken E ; Rich-Edwards JW ; Wright RO
• Description:
  Fish and other seafood may contain organic mercury but also beneficial nutrients such as n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. We endeavored to study whether maternal fish consumption during pregnancy harms or benefits fetal brain development. We examined associations of maternal fish intake during pregnancy and maternal hair mercury at delivery with infant cognition among 135 mother-infant pairs in Project Viva, a prospective U.S. pregnancy and child cohort study. We assessed infant cognition by the percent novelty preference on visual recognition memory (VRM) testing at 6 months of age. Mothers consumed an average of 1.2 fish servings per week during the second trimester. Mean maternal hair mercury was 0.55 ppm, with 10% of samples > 1.2 ppm. Mean VRM score was 59.8 (range, 10.9-92.5). After adjusting for participant characteristics using linear regression, higher fish intake was associated with higher infant cognition. This association strengthened after adjustment for hair mercury level: For each additional weekly fish serving, offspring VRM score was 4.0 points higher [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.3 to 6.7]. However, an increase of 1 ppm in mercury was associated with a decrement in VRM score of 7.5 (95% CI, -13.7 to -1.2) points. VRM scores were highest among infants of women who consumed > 2 weekly fish servings but had mercury levels = 1.2 ppm. Higher fish consumption in pregnancy was associated with better infant cognition, but higher mercury levels were associated with lower cognition. Women should continue to eat fish during pregnancy but choose varieties with lower mercury contamination. Key words: child development, cognition, environmental health, fish, mercury, n-3 fatty acids, neurotoxins, seafood. E [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cohort Studies Fetus Mercury Nervous System Occupational Health Pregnancy Safety Women
• Keywords:
  Brain Function Children Cognitive Function Cohort Studies Food Humans Mercury Compounds Organic Compounds Prenatal Exposure
• ISSN:
  0091-6765
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  113
• Issue:
  10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058736
• Citation:
  Environ Health Perspect 2005 Oct; 113(10):1376-1380
• Contact Point Address:
  E. Oken, Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim, 133 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215
• Email:
  emily_oken@harvardpilgrim.org
• CAS Registry Number:
  Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard School of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20030701
• Source Full Name:
  Environmental Health Perspectives
• End Date:
  20050630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8a4ea6b5814aef39e3e3cbe3de90d461de1b67b50e10fc0437aaa8501d3505a0d8d7687f1866a0a7203ece5302241fc87082cf2538e44cd7091e8a2dd464c665
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223137/cdc_223137_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 106.09 KB ]